Imagine a mandala. A digital mandala. Imagine it as a story interface that invites you to navigate stories of LGBTQ+-identifying individuals and their families. Imagine it as a living digital imprint that transforms and evolves, tracking your own transformative journey through their documentary narratives. Imagine recreating narratives that have been erased. Imagine sharing them through the digital diaspora.Body, Home, World: South Asian LGBTQ+ Journeys is an attempt to weave a digital tapestry of documentary stories about queer spaces of color, family, and the immigrant experience. It is a recognition that in many immigrant and communities of color, the family dialogue on sexual and gender identities is fraught with tension and risk, and that the spaces for safe inquiry, consultation, and advocacy are few and far between. It is our hope that these narratives will create a sense of shared experience, an empathic stepping-in-the-shoes, and a sense of community that is respectful, inclusive, and internally diverse.Over the course of four months, you will be invited to embark on four different journeys. Each journey has been mapped from the point of view of LGBTQ+ individuals as well as that of their family members. We hope that you will not only return to the site to watch new content, but also share these stories within your digital networks, your safe spaces, and your families. The creative team behind Body, Home, World also invites you to join us on our social networks for future updates.
Conceived, Produced, and Directed by
Aashish Kumar
Creative Director / Lead Coder
Ali Tan Ucer
Mobile Site Design and Development
Rui An
Huiyi Chen
Documentary Segments Produced, Directed, and Edited by
Music by
Ravi Krishnaswami
Intern and Associate Coder
Jill Shah
Mandala Artwork
Aymun Naqvi
Additional Artwork
Shanshan Wang
Camera
Matt Belen
Research Assistant
Katherine Chwe
Archival Photos and Videos Courtesy
Vaibhav Jain and Parag Mehta Wedding Video
(Tomas Ramos Photographers & Film)
D’lo Live Shows
(D’Lo)
Mehta Family Photos
(Vijay and Parag Mehta)
Hate in America: 20 years after Matthew Shepard's murder
(Courtesy The National Desk and Circa)
Other Archival Images used under the
Creative Commons non-commercial usage license
Interactive Storytelling Mentors and Incubation Support
Sandra Gaudenzi
Mike Robbins
Samuel Gantier
Clementine Havrez
IFLab Europe
Special Thanks to
Tanja Auf Der Heyde
Brandi Kinard
Anuva Kalawar
Kingston Kodan
The Jain Family
The Mehta Family
The Kosi/Huber Family
D’Lo
Deepa Iyer
Parag Khandahar
Aruna Rao
Arun Venugopal
Manish Patwari
Nalini Patwari
Julia Beabout
Sanjeev Chatterjee
Sucheta Sachdev
Jesse Ryan
Shivani Dave
Nina Bangalore
Alana Taub
Savini Ganhewa
Brian Nandy
Kabir Adhiya-Kumar
Charmaine Hussain
Jaideep Punjabi
Lawrence Herbert School of Communication,
Hofstra University
Khush DC
Desi Rainbow Parents and Allies
World Learning Staff
Partial Funding provided by
Alumni TIES, United States Department of State
Hofstra University Provost’s Diversity Grant
Lawrence Herbert School of Communication Research Grant
Honors College Research Assistant Grant
Copyright 2021
Embers Films